Castle of Nightmares
by Happy Snow
Summary: Hogwarts AU of Throne of Glass.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Throne of Glass or its characters._

_A/N: Okay, so the setting is Hogwarts, but not in modern time but set long ago, in a time where witches were burnt at the stakes and things like that. To protect themselves, a lot of them are organised in secret clans and the clans are the equivalent of kingdoms in ToG (eg. Adarlan clan, Terrasen clan) with the kings/queens as chief of clans. There are less witches who dared to travel so far from the safety of their homes for education, and so Hogwarts is much smaller, with much more senior-junior interactions but most of it is still much the same. There is also much less house-based prejudice in the story, although Gryffindor and Slytherin are still at each other's throat, it doesn't play such a prominent role, especially with clan-based loyalty._

"Aelin! Aelin, slow down!" Aedion called, running down the train after his infuriating little cousin as she rushed down Hogwarts train after the boy she had described as a "handsome fella" just a couple of seconds ago. "Please tell me you didn't just say Westfall was handsome."

Tapping her foot impatiently as Aedion caught up, she whirled around again, tugging Aedion along as she once again followed Westfall down the train corridor. "If that brown-haired fella is Westfall, then that is indeed what I am saying," she replied cheerfully with no sign of stopping.

Aedion groaned. "Don't associate with him."

"Why not?"

"He's an Adarlan's bastard! One of Havilliard's clan's important members are the Westfall. They're the enemy, Aelin!" To his dismay, this did not seem to deter his whirlwind of a cousin, whose footsteps showed no signs of stopping as she dragged him along the train.

"Don't be so rigid, Aedion," she replied laughing. "Maybe we'll convince Westfall to switch clans and join Terrasen instead."

Before Aedion could even think of an appropriate response for that ridiculous sentiment, he had been dragged into one of the train compartments. Standing nearby (too close for his comfort) was Chaol Westfall, who looked up in surprise when they walked in after him. Behind the seat of the table was a young boy with the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen and a demeanor fit for a lady.

"Ashryver," Chaol remarked coolly as his eyes fell on Aedion.

"Westfall," Aedion growled in response.

"And I'm Aelin," Aelin pops in, smiling at Chaol charmingly.

Chaol barely nodded, before turning back to the quiet boy. "Let me know if you need anything," he states, before sweeping his robes up and marching out of the compartment door, much to Aelin's disappointment and Aedion's relief. He wasn't sure how much more of Westfall he could have stood before probably getting into another argument with him.

"Aww…" Aelin said, peeking outside as he walked away, looking as though she had half a mind to dart out again. "Do you suppose I should follow again?"

"Stop that!" Aedion exclaimed, pulling Aelin back by her arm. Unnoticed by both of them, the boy in the corner flinched at his actions but Aelin only laughs, pulling herself free from his grip. "You are not to associate with Westfall. Or Havilliard. Or whatever else comes out of Adarlan. Got that?" Wrinkling her nose as though she was about to tell him something the lines of "I do what I want", she stuck out her tongue at him instead, tossing her bag into the compartment above and rushing to the seat opposite the boy before he can pinch her in response.

"Oooh, is there already drama before school starts?" A pretty voice from outside calls, and a girl with the appearance to match her voice slips in through the door. "Who is Havilliard and Westfall?"

Aedion frowns. "Are you a first year too?"

"Yep!"

"Gah, this is becoming a first years cabin. I'm going to find my friends," he grumbled, stomping out of the cabin and banging the door shut in the process.

"Finally," Aelin said, rolling her eyes.

"Who's he?" the girl asks, tilting her head at Aelin.

"My cousin, and a pain in the ass," she replied, turning to give her a wide grin.

"Are you going to avoid Havilliard and Westfall then?"

Aelin laughs. "I wasn't going to go out of my way to find them, but with how insistent he is, I'm almost tempted to."

The girl laughs at this. "I like you. What's your…"

Before she could finish her sentence, the door slid open slightly again and they looked up, finding a small girl with tumbling black hair and wide eyes staring at them. Her eyes darted to the corridor for a moment, as though she intended to run off. For a moment, nothing happened as the four of them stared in silence.

"Elide," Aelin stated finally, breaking the silence. "You can come in."

"Yes, yes, of course," the girl mumbled, pushing her baggage in hastily. Aelin hadn't meant her statement as a command, merely an invitation should Elide wish to join them but Elide had clearly taken it wrongly, almost scampering in fearfully. A (huge) part of her wanted to snap in frustration, but she has done that before and it does nothing but frighten people of her power even more. Instead, she holds in a sigh and attempts to look as non-threatening as possible.

It makes no difference, for after glancing around for half a second, Elide slides into the seat next to the boy, so silent that Aelin almost wants to ask if he's mute. Beside her, the girl's eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "You know each other?" she asked.

"Yes, we're of the same clan," Aelin replies easily, reaching out a hand to the girl. "I'm Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, nice to meet you!"

Lysandra smiles, reaching out a hand to grasp hers. Part of her wanted to ask what she meant by the clan, but she wasn't sure if that was rude so she decides that it can wait. "Lysandra Ennar, the pleasure is mine." Turning to the other girl in front of her, she reaches her hand out again. "And you must be Elide."

"Elide Lochan," the girl replied, gracing her with the smallest of smiles. "Nice to meet you." Their names mean nothing to Lysandra, that much was obvious as she took in their names with curiosity but no recognition, but the boy's eyes darted over quickly to Aelin, and then Elide in recognition.

"And you are?" Aelin asked.

Startled, the boy fumbles and almost drops the book that she hadn't realised he was holding. "I'm Dorian," he replies quietly.

Aelin frowns. "Dorian what?"

Nervously, Dorian bites his bottom lip as he glances quickly again to his side, and then to his front. "Dorian Havilliard," he says, his voice soft enough that it was almost a whisper.

This time, Lysandra gets something. "The Havilliard you shouldn't associate with?" she wanted to ask if it wasn't so rude to voice aloud. Regardless, before she had time to formulate a response, both Elide and Aelin had immediate reactions to his name, Aelin leaning back as far as the seat would allow and Elide sliding further away from the boy. The boy drops his gaze to his lap. "I don't get it," she finally says, after a beat of silence.

"Which clan are you from?" Aelin asks, as though that held any meaning to her.

"I don't… I… I thought we only found that out when we reached Hogwarts?"

"No, not houses," Aelin explained. "Clans."

"I don't think she's in any," Elide finally says quietly, her clever eyes watching Lysandra carefully in a way that almost unnerves her.

"I don't know what they are."

"How?" Aelin asked surprised. "Where are you from?"

Lysandra hadn't wanted to talk about her situation but resigned, she sighed and told them of how she had been in an orphanage prior to this. They weren't going to send her to school initially because they had been sending the children to work on households to earn keep for the orphanage but someone had given the head of the orphanage a letter, explaining that she had been enrolled in a school by parents she never knew and they were expecting her. It was already paid for, and that was the only reason that she was even allowed to go.

"So you're muggleborn then?" Aelin had wondered aloud, only to have Lysandra look at her in confusion. "With human parents."

"I don't know," she grimaced. "I suppose so."

"She might not be. Her parents might be witches and wizards," Elide pointed out.

"But her clan would have found her and took care of her then!"

"Maybe they lost her, or that reclaiming her would take too much explanation and they can't risk the clan being discovered." At this, both Elide and Aelin turned to look at Dorian instinctively, in a manner that was almost accusatory, and he almost seemed to shrink under their stare.

"Do all clans hate each other?" Lysandra broke in, mostly as a genuine question but in some part because of the pity she felt for the surrounded boy. "Is that why you're acting so stupid? You and Elide are in the same clan and Dorian's a different clan so you must fight?"

Aelin wrinkled her nose at her. "That is so not true," she declared. "Most clans either get along or kind of ignore each other's existence and deal with their own. It's only Adarlan that's our enemy. And besides, we're not acting stupid!"

"You are! You keep glaring at Dorian but he hasn't even done anything!"

"He's Adarlan's heir!"

"So?"

"So? Adarlan's the enemy!"

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? Everyone knows why!" Aelin cried, agitated, as Lysandra narrows her eyes at her. Recalling Lysandra story, she frowns. "Oh…"

"Adarlan and Terrasen were part of the same clan long ago," Elide finally answers. "But the clan broke into two, Adarlan led by the chief's daughter and Terrasen by his son for reasons lost to time thousands of years ago. But hundreds of years ago, Adarlan's heiress and Terrasen's heir fell in love and wanted to merge the clans, but their parents were wildly against this idea. Adarlan's heiress decides to fake her death for a week so that they may elope. A messenger was supposed to tell Terrasen's heir, but the message was intercepted by Adarlan's chief and as he thought that she was truly dead, he killed himself. Terrasen's chief was furious at Adarlan's chief action and a war was nearly waged. It was only settled by the other clans placating the two powerful clans but ever since then, Terrasen and Adarlan has never gotten along."

That's why Adarlan sucks, Aelin had wanted to say. They're despicable and caused Terrasen to nearly descend into chaos, but before she had the chance, Dorian spoke up for the first time. "That's not what I heard."

All eyes turned to him. "What did you hear?" Elide asked, quietly, her tone surprisingly neutral in a way Aelin was sure she would not manage.

"Terrasen's heir knew she was faking her death, it was planned by him, but he had not planned to truly elope with her. He was going to marry Eyllwe's heiress and his sister was to marry Wendlyn's heir to bring together the three clans to destroy Adarlan. It was only because Adarlan's heiress' little brother found out his ploy that he managed to stop him. They fought to the death and in his last breath, Terrasen's heir stabbed his lover in the heart, killing both Adarlan's chief children and nearly destroying Adarlan in the process."

"That's not true!" Aelin exclaimed angrily. "That's a bold-faced lie!"

"It is what I was told."

"Well, you were told a lie!"

"Maybe you were told a lie," Dorian challenged, and for a second, she thought they were going to fly into a fight. But Dorian merely sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. I don't want to fight about it." Aelin blinked in surprise. She had been ready to defend Terrasen and argue on the truth of his story, but she hadn't expected him to just drop it. "It was long ago and I'm not going to let that feud dictate my life."

"Well, you know what, Dorian Havilliard," she glanced up at him and found him meeting her eyes. "You're right. Let's be friends."

Silence filled the cabin for a long moment, as Elide gaped at Terrasen's heiress declaration. Lysandra finally burst out laughing and Adarlan's heir did not break Aelin's stare, but did break into a smile as his hands reached out to grasp her offer of friendship. "This is to rebel against your cousin, isn't it?" He japes. "But I'll take it."

Aelin laughs. "In part," she admits. "But also because it is right. I have tried to find written accounts but nothing concrete has ever really been found, lost to time as much of history often is."

"Pity, isn't it?" Dorian says quietly. "I do wish we knew what happened, even if it doesn't really matter anymore."

"Yeah, if Adarlan tricked Terrasen's heir into suicide, they lost their heiress as a result. If Terrasen plotted against Adarlan, they lost their heir as a result too. It is kind of evened out, and really the clans beyond Terrasen and Adarlan had much more to gain from the destruction of the two clans anyway," Aelin points out.

Elide frowned at that. "That is true, I've never thought about it that way. Wendlyn and Eyllwe gained much from Terrasen through the trust forged from those times."

"As did Fenharrow and Melisande from Adarlan."

"Well, who cares," Lysandra drawls, deciding that she let them drag out this clan talk for far too long. "What I really want to know is what houses you guys think you'll be in?!"

_A/N: In case anyone is wondering, Adarlan is not known for leaving babies in the wild or anything. It's just kind of the thing where because they hate each other "clans that do _ evil thing" automatically equates to the enemy clan and hence why they looked at Dorian._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own Throne of Glass or its characters._

_A/N: I've also decided to age up the characters a little and changed the Hogwarts' structure. They join at 14 as first-years and have four years of school instead of seven because I say so. Some of the subjects they learn will also be different because this is medieval times._

"Briarcliff, Ansel," Professor Theodus Brullo called, eyeing the crowd of skittish first years with a look of mild boredom after the short school introduction had ended. Headmistress Florine Tanec and Deputy Headmaster Brullo were clearly not one for many words, for they merely introduced the professors, then told them that they were to be separated into houses and that more information would be given by the prefects, before immediately proceeding with the much anticipated sorting, leaving many of the first years wide-eyed and disoriented.

Not Ansel Briarcliff though, as the red-headed girl strutted up to the stool confidently, as though she had rehearsed it a thousand times. It was an effort not to find the gait in her step irritating, an effort she failed for she scrunched up her nose, turning to whisper to her newly found friends (friends, the word rang so beautifully, even in her head). "Do you know her?"

Lysandra appears not to have heard her, her hands clenched tightly together and her lips pursed as her eyes bore holes into the sorting hat that had just landed Briarcliff's head. Elide turned to glance at the rows of professor seated at the high table, and then to Aedion, as though fearful of some sort of retribution, and only gave Aelin a small shake of her head without meeting her eyes, before gluing her gaze back onto the sorting procedure. Dorian's eyes remained fixed on Professor Brullo, and she began to feel hope slip through her fingers.

"Gryffindor!" The hat bellowed and the next name was called.

She should have known this would happen. She had spent years being shunned by peers for her innate magic when it had become powerful enough that she couldn't control it. All of Terrasen had known and nobody had dared to associate with her (besides Aedion). Friends were not something Aelin of Terrasen had, but it wouldn't matter, she wouldn't let it because…

"I think she might be from Red Dessert," Dorian voice came from her right, and she turned to look at him in surprise. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noted that Lysandra was still hyper focused and Elide now had a little frown on her face, with two of them whispering instead of the silence she must have been hoping for.

She bit back a delighted smile at getting a response. "Why do you say so?"

"Ilias Vouvos and Professor Kyrios Vouvos are both staring at her too often. I'm fairly sure they know her, meaning they're probably from the same clan."

She tried to hide her surprise. "You know Ilias and Kyrios?"

Dorian tilted his head at her questioningly. "No, not personally, but I've studied the head of clans and important people within the different clans." She supposes she should have realised that, for just because she neglected her studies as the heiress of Terrasen back home didn't mean he neglected his as the heir of Adarlan.

"Do you?"

Oh no, she thought worriedly. She shouldn't have revealed that she knew who they were, much less use first names. "Uhh, sort of."

He must have realised she was getting stressed about it, for he asked nothing more of it. "Cool."

Without turning her head, she glanced over to the professors' table and Ilias, and she saw that he was right. He was far more observant than she thought he might be and idea began forming in her head.

"Ennar, Lysandra," Professor Brullo called, and Lysandra's eyes shot up to stare at the stool with apprehension. Dorian smiled at her, quietly wishing her good luck, prompting Aelin to give her hand a quick squeeze before gently nudging her forward.

Trembling, she took her seat on the stool and placed the hat on her head, shutting her eyes tightly. Both Aelin and Dorian fell silent as they watched but they did not wait long, for almost immediately, the hat bellowed, "Slytherin!" Lysandra startled at the loud cheering from the table, before scuttling over to a spot near the edge of the Slytherin table. Most of the seniors barely spared her a glance, not recognising her, but a handsome black-haired boy she recognised as one of Terrasen's gave her a warm smile, and Aelin couldn't help but feel a little proud of her clan.

"Oh, dear, she had been hoping for Ravenclaw," Dorian murmured.

"Only because blue was her favourite colour though," Aelin pointed out. "Slytherin would suit her, the green would bring out her eyes."

Dorian had to stifle his laugh at that, causing Aelin to elbow him with a scowl, but she soon found herself giggling anyway. Professor Brullo turned to give them a look, silencing Dorian immediately. When she turned to look at him as the next name was called, she couldn't help but note that he had shrunk in on himself and his face turned just a shade paler than before. It was barely noticeable, but Aelin's secret training with Arobynn Hamel to control her magic had taught her far more than mere suppression of magic.

Unsure as to whether trying to continue a conversation after Professor Brullo's silent chastise and not wanting to accidentally dissuade him from not being her friend, Aelin fell silent.

It had barely been a minute before her name was then called. Professor Brullo had far more of an effect on Dorian then she had expected, for he did not say anything to her, but gave her a little smile and a thumbs up anyway, before glancing nervously at the professor. His gesture made her smile nonetheless, and as she walked up to the stool, she found Lysandra grinning at her from the Slytherin table.

"Ooooh, exciting one, aren't you?" The hat said gleefully the moment she placed it upon her head. "Galathynius and Ashryver, you must be fun."

Aelin wrinkled her nose, unsure what to answer to that.

"Well, you are certainly a challenge to place, that's for sure. Bravery, loyalty, curiosity, ambition, all of them you possess, but what makes you tick, I wonder."

The hat was silent for a moment, and Aelin wondered if that meant that he was waiting for her to choose what she wanted. She had heard from Uncle Orlon that sometimes, the hat couldn't decide between two or more choices, and so witches and wizards get to choose which house they wanted. But she had never heard of the hat giving all four choices to someone before.

"Your thoughts run very fast, little girl. It's quite fascinating if it wasn't quite so rambunctious. I am an old hat, and have no wish for such wild heads, but you do have a preference then, I suppose."

Eeek, the hat could read her thoughts, how creepy.

"Well, that's rude."

"Just testing the theory, I'm sorry," she thought gracefully. "Gryffindor, if it would please you."

"Oh aren't you a biased child. Favouring cousin Aedion's house over cousin Galan's house then?"

"I just like Gryffindor, is all," she insisted. Desperately trying to think of an excuse, Lysandra came to mind. "Red is my favourite color."

"Friend's with the new Slytherin girl, are you? Why not Slytherin then?"

"NO!" she nearly yelled aloud. It would be horrible to be on opposing house to Aedion. Aedion was her first friend, her only friend for the longest time, and she wouldn't be able to stand it if… "What about Ravenclaw?"

"What about it?"

"I love books, have always loved them. I used to dig up our old libraries and I've gone hunting for lost books before. Surely that shows my love for knowledge."

"That you do have, indeed."

"So I can go Ravenclaw then?" she thought hopefully.

"But don't you realise what you have been doing?"

"What?"

"Haggling with the Sorting Hat, eh? Did you think it would work?"

"You said yourself that I had many qualities from the different houses. Why shouldn't I get a choice?"

"Because I am the Sorting Hat and I make the decision," the hat replied, a tone of finality in its voice that made chills run down Aelin's backbone.

"No. Please, no, I can show you why…"

"Slytherin!"

Aelin sat on the stool, frozen, as she tried desperately to convince the hat still sitting upon her head, but it had fallen silent. No, she thought stubbornly. Come back and change your mind, she insisted. Distantly, she heard Professor Brullo call out Dorian's name.

"Lysandra's delighted," a familiar voice floated over to her. "Aren't you happy you'll be in the same house?" Dorian's face was right in front of her now, and she gripped the hat tightly. Still, it made no response.

Forcing her emotions down, she made herself to focus on Dorian's gentle smile, and returned one of her own, not wanting to make a scene on the first day of Hogwarts. Standing, she passed the hat to him and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

Hurrying over to the Slytherin table, she saw that Lysandra was indeed delighted, her eyes lit with joy, and Aelin began to think this wasn't so bad after all. Settling next to Lysandra, she was at the very edge of the Slytherin table, cornering the Ravenclaw table right next to it. The four long house tables had been arranged into a diamond shape in front of the high table of Professors, with Slytherin and Ravenclaw at the back, and Hufflepuff and Gryffindor at the front.

"Ravenclaw!" The hat shouted, and polite claps began to rise at the table to her side as the first Ravenclaw of the night was sorted. They should cheer louder, Aelin decided, for getting Dorian in their house was an honor.

As he hurried down and took a seat at the corner next to her and Lysandra, it was instantly obvious to her that he didn't look comfortable. He had said on the train that he wished to be in Hufflepuff with his friend, (the very good-looking) Chaol Westfall, but made no mention of any houses he didn't want to get into. "What's the matter?" she questioned.

"Nothing," he whispered back, but his eyes betrayed him as it flickered over to a brunette along the Ravenclaw table, so briefly she almost missed it.

She frowned, but said nothing of it. "Do you know any of the Professors?" she asked instead, diverting the topic.

His posture relaxed at that, even breaking into a small smile. "Only Professor Spindlehead and Professor Brullo personally, but Professor Tanec and Professor Goldsmith are also from Adarlan."

"That's a lot of Adarlan's professors."

"It is," Dorian grimaced. "More eyes to report back to my father."

"Such an obvious bias, isn't it?" An unfamiliar voice sounded from Dorian's right. "If only the Headmistress hired more people from different clan, we would all benefit so much more." Turning, they found the heir of Eyllwe smiling at them. "Nehemia Ytger of Eyllwe, a pleasure to meet you."

"Lysandra Ennar," Lysandra replied before either Aelin or Dorian could say anything, leaving Nehemia blinking at her in surprise. "The pleasure is… why are you guys looking at me weird? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, not at all," Dorian insisted.

"Don't lie to me," Lysandra replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm not a fool."

Dorian winced. "It's not wrong, it's just unusual is all."

"What is?"

"Usually," Nehemia responded. "Heirs of clans are introduced first, before general clan members. And usually, people include their clans in their introduction." If Lysandra wasn't frustrated before, she certainly was now. "This clan nonsense again," she muttered her breath. Nehemia raised an eyebrow at her comment but said nothing.

"It doesn't really matter anyway," Aelin said at last, agreeing with Dorian's assessment that Lysandra hadn't really done anything wrong. "I'm Aelin Ashryver Galathynius of Terrasen."

"I'm Dorian."

"Havilliard of Adarlan?" Nehemia asked.

"Havilliard of Adarlan," Dorian agreed, his tone just slightly begrudging, but Nehemia and Lysandra both seemed to have missed it.

"I agree that it's biased though," Aelin commented. "All the Adarlan professor's also got Head of Houses roles and only Slytherin's Professor Cyrene isn't from Adarlan." She had meant what she said, but she almost wished she hadn't said it when she noted that Dorian got a pinched look on his face, and began hunching over in his seat.

"Does it really matter?" Lysandra asked. "If they're good, who really cares?"

"Different clans bring different perspectives, they all have their own tune of magic and their own traditional knowledge, and we miss out on all those we don't include," Nehemia pointed out. Lysandra only frowned at her, the subtleties of the clan differences lost on her, having only been introduced to it that very day.

"Nothing we can really do about it though," Aelin pointed out.

Nehemia sighed at her statement. "I suppose you're right," she says, but her eyes lingered on Dorian.

Before anyone could say anything else, Professor Brullo called out, "Lochan, Elide." All eyes turned to stool at the front as Elide sat down, composed as ever as she placed the hat on her head. It had barely grazed her head when a loud "Ravenclaw!" was declared. Despite being the only one of the four of them who had successfully gotten the house of her choice, Elide didn't look as happy as she could be as she slid into the seat next to Dorian.

"What's wrong? Didn't you want Ravenclaw?" Aelin asked her, confused.

"I did, I do," Elide insisted, her tone conflicted. "It's just that I… I…" Unwittingly, her eyes slide over to Dorian and understanding click in Aelin's head, just as it must have for Dorian as he shrunk into himself even more, something she hadn't realised was possible.

Aelin wasn't going to be angry about Elide being in the same house as Dorian, because that was something stupid to be angry about, but she felt her temper rising for the disregard Elide had for Dorian's discomfort. He was going to be her friend, Aelin had decided on the train, but it had been firmly solidified when he had been the only one to entertain her at the sorting, and then cast into stone as he had helped pulled her together after her disaster of a sorting. And she didn't ever want her friends to feel uncomfortable.

"I think it's great that Dorian and you are in Ravenclaw together," Aelin decided out loud. "And since Lysandra and I are in Slytherin together, that means we'll always be able to hang out in Ravenclaw-Slytherin combined classes."

Elide stared at her uncertainly for a while before finally nodding, but she was more focused on Dorian, who looked up from his plate for the first time in a while to give her a lovely smile. Her attention taken, she failed to notice the curious expression of one heir of Eyllwe who carefully watched the events unfolding before her.


End file.
